Orange Lilies
by aisuruitachiwakoi
Summary: After the defeat of Naraku, things have come to their calm. Revelations and all sorts of other stuff happens...


I'm a RinXSess fan so blah.

After defeating Naraku, things calm down a bit with the usual demons and human villages. This takes setting 8 years after the defeat of Naraku. Sesshoumaru fights to attain his land and nearly succeeds all the way. Through the 8 years, someone of importance had helped him to achieve his victories. Rin had been training herself not wanting to become a burden to Sesshoumaru. Within 8 years, her progress is remarkable and she stands side by side with Sesshoumaru in battle.

_At Sesshoumaru's palace deep in the western lands._

"Jaken, make sure a meal is ready for me before nightfall," Sesshoumaru said while passing the little demon by.

"Of course Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken screeched and hurriedly ran towards the kitchen.

Sesshoumaru advanced through the inner parts of his palace with servants greeting him at every corner. He said nothing as he continued toward his own room. When he had arrived, he noticed a familiar scent. He quickly slid open the door to see orange lilies being placed next to his futon. The person placing the flowers didn't seem to notice him and adjusted the flowers smiling at them.

"Rin, what are you doing?" Sesshoumaru said as he eyed her with a raised brow.

Rin gasped and bowed her head. "Oh! I'm sorry Sesshoumaru-sama! I didn't notice you were already here!" Rin yelped while knocking over the lilies. She quickly got up and arranged the flowers again and hurried towards the door. Sesshoumaru watched her as she left then diverted his attention to the bright attraction.

He could already smell the strong scent of the sweet flowers, but he touched it and felt its warmth. "I wonder what she was planning," Sesshoumaru questioned himself as he went out of his room. He passed through the many rooms until he reached the end of the long hallway. He turned to his right to one of the doors, saying, "Rin?" He received no answer and preceded opening the door.

He always noticed that Rin's room was always bright and she kept a variety of flowers all over the room, making it look like paintings in where the artist was on the brink of insanity. He couldn't stand the overwhelming smell of the flowers and covered his nose with his right hand. He kept calling out Rin until he realized she wasn't even there. Sesshoumaru walked out of the room and looked around for her. He asked the servants and their replies were all the same, they didn't know where she went. Sesshoumaru walked away to the outside of his palace until he reached the outside garden and picked up on her scent. He found her in the middle of a field of the orange flowers she placed in his room. As he approached her, he noticed she had more than a dozen in her arms.

"Are these your favorite now?" he asked. Rin looked up in surprise of Sesshoumaru and sat back.

"Uhh, yes! I noticed that they were close to the color of your eyes! And I've always been fond of Sesshoumaru-sama's eyes. So that's why I really like them! Although, they can never match yours…" Rin mumbled. Sesshoumaru took a quick glance at the girl and then looked away. "Sesshoumaru-sama…" Sesshoumaru arched his brow, "I was wondering if it would be ok if I could…" Rin trailed off. Sesshoumaru who was use to Rin just boldly asking him what she wanted was annoyed by her inconsistency.

"Speak child," Sesshoumaru says coldly.

"Oh! I was wondering if Sesshoumaru-sama was not busy before meal time, then maybe Sesshoumaru-sama can fight Rin for a little while…" Sesshoumaru looked at her with curious eyes. "Well, I was just thinking that since Sesshoumaru-sama is the strongest person I know, then maybe I could get really strong if…Sesshoumaru-sama…trains me?" Rin managed to mutter out. Sesshoumaru turned around and started to walk away back to his palace. Rin hanged her head down feeling ashamed that she would ask a selfish question to her lord. Rin watched as the decedent lilies start to fall out of her arms, falling with grace yet sadness in their petals.

"If what you want is to fight, then I will fight you. But don't expect me to suppress any power," Sesshoumaru said as he walked away.

Rin's eyes widened as a smile crossed her face. "Yes!" Rin exclaimed, attempting to pick up the lilies that she dropped. She quickly picked a few more and ran towards the palace following Sesshoumaru. "This is so great! I can finally fight my lord and maybe I can finally step out from being the pathetic human I am," Rin thought to herself as she entered the palace holding the flowers. Sesshoumaru had headed off towards a different direction while Rin headed towards her room. She didn't notice the flowers and few weeds that had grown accustomed to being stuck in her hair everyday.

She quickly darted for her room for she knew the servants would scold her for whatever reason they could possibly think of. She couldn't blame them; she was the only human in the entire vicinity. Her people were the ones who had angered her lord when they chopped down the trees and harvested the land for their own needs without considering those that already inhabited there. She somewhat felt ashamed from the red blood that ran through every vein in her body. "I wish the wolves that bit me long ago left some demon blood in me," Rin whispered. She quickened her pace when she caught site of her room which was a couple of doors down from her lord's room. She had asked Sesshoumaru one day to relocate her after she turned 12. Rin felt that she had relied on Sesshoumaru's protection long enough and she had already been training to protect herself by any means. Sesshoumaru gave no heed, only answering with is usual, "Do as you wish." Rin came to a quick stop when her door started to slide open.

"You're such bother girl. Can you not clean your own room?" snorted the servant. "I'm only doing this because the lord asked for us to clean yours as well. But look at you! You can't even keep yourself clean! When the lord kept you, I'd think that maybe he'd bring someone who doesn't need to be baby-sitted!" The rabbit demon said without even glancing at Rin. Rin couldn't bring herself to look at the servant, "I will ask Sesshoumaru-sama if I could take care of my own room as well," Rin thought. She kept her head low as the servant walked past her. She quickly entered her sanctuary and put the lilies down next to her futon. "They're so nice looking like Sesshoumaru-sama's eyes, if I keep them by me when I'm sleeping, then it'll be the same as Sesshoumaru-sama watching me when I sleep." Rin smirked and plopped herself on her futon. She felt like jumping up and screaming with excitement, for today, she would actually be training with her protector; the person whom she's looked up to all these times, both literally and mentally.

"That's it! I've got to get rid of this energy," Rin thought as she got up. She took off her chest armor and arm pads, along with her small katana that she found in the forest. She's always called the katana good luck because she knew someone died fighting with it, a brave and courageous death. But Jaken had told her maybe a bandit got killed while being captured, but Rin shook off the idea because she'd rather believe her story than his.

Rin felt much lighter without the armor that coated her body everyday, but she had also used the armor as weights to enable her to gain quicker speed if she were to take them off. With or without the armor, she had grown accustomed to both. She had worn the armor to show that she was strong enough to bear the weight just as Sesshoumaru has done. Rin left her room and headed towards the outside. She took off in a quick run towards the forest leaving the protection of the palace walls. She quickly and lightly ran past various trees and bushes, making leaves fly off the ground from where her foot landed. The wind she made for herself blew her long black hair behind her face. Rin loved the outdoors and felt like she could even fly whenever she ran freely such as this. At the edge of the forest stood a lake that she came to visit everyday after breakfast so that she could train there.

It all started when she was ten that she realized she relied too much on Sesshoumaru for her protection. After being attacked by a bear demon and getting injured, did Rin realize her weakness. She was completely defenseless and helpless without Sesshoumaru. She wanted to fix that mistake for she believed that she was just a bother to Sesshoumaru if he had to constantly run to her side. After Sesshoumaru had finally taken to his home at the palace, Rin decided to train herself, undergoing strenuous workouts she put herself through. She didn't know if Sesshoumaru noticed her training but she went out everyday after breakfast to a lake she found walking through the forests. She ran til' her body gave out on her, applied weights onto her clothing to teach her body endurance, and most definitely practice swordsmanship on her own.

Sesshoumaru had a library in his palace and she went in there everyday to take out martial arts scrolls. Rin did not know how to read herself, so she asked Jaken to teach her. Jaken of course asked her why she wanted to start reading and she said that she believed that knowledge can somehow benefit the lord one day. So he taught her before breakfast and she quickly caught on to the characters and the meanings of the words. Soon enough she didn't need the help of Jaken to read through a scroll anymore and started to take the scrolls out when she went practicing. She practiced various moves and mental techniques to bring herself up to be the perfect warrior.

Every time Sesshoumaru went patrolling his lands for rogues, Rin came along. She wanted to help him but didn't know how to. She didn't want to beat monsters and demons that appeared right in front of him, for that would show that Sesshoumaru needed help in which he really didn't. She just wanted to show him that she could defend herself now and if ever Sesshoumaru worried about her safety, she could reassure him that she was safe. Finally, her day came when multiple demons attacked their party and she was able to fend off the demons not only for herself but for Jaken as well. Sesshoumaru said nothing when she sliced clean through the demons. He just continued walking as if the demons never attacked. Rin didn't know what she wanted anymore after showing Sesshoumaru that she could fight. She didn't know if she wanted praise from him, or to feel pride for herself. She didn't know if he was angry at her for not letting him do his job of protecting her or if he even noticed. But she kept on training herself anyways. Deep down, Rin felt in her gut that, she wanted to prove her worth even if she was a human.

When she arrived at the lake, she was greeted by its serene atmosphere. The calming waters never ceased to make Rin's heart feel at ease. She looked outwards to where the other side of the lake stood. She saw no one and nothing as usual. She always loved the fact that there were so many different flowers that grew near the lake edge each year. One year of flowers was always different from the year before. This year, she was blessed with the orange lilies that were now in Sesshoumaru's garden. Rin saw how nice they were and took a couple home to plant them a couple of months ago. Now there was a fresh batch of flowers for her everyday.

Rin walked up to the lake with graceful steps and knelt down to look into the water. The water was always so clear, clean of any pollutants and its bottom was visible to the naked eye. She touched the water to see the ripples forming from where she touched it with her fingertip. When the ripples went away, her image stood there. She looked at herself and thought back on all the years, all the years in where she was reborn to the current day. Her wide brown eyes were now narrower but still held its gleam and they seemed to twinkle every time her lord was in reach. Her wide angular face now held an oval shape and a sharp chin. Her hair, a gentle waterfall of lacquer color, reached down past her backside and was usually pulled back in a ponytail, but she felt too free to constrict it by any means on a day like this. She kept her glance at her image and touched her hair, bringing it to her front. She fiddled with it, pulling her fingers through the silky strand but then scrunched her face. "I wonder how Sesshoumaru-sama's feel…I bet they're much softer than mine is," Rin thought as she stood up and blew her hair back.

She stretched her arms above her head, yawning, but then realizing that she had too much adrenaline to be feeling the least bit fatigued. Rin felt that she needed to head back to the palace to find Sesshoumaru so that they may start their "training." "I've had my personal time for the day-----EEK! I can't wait! I CAN'T WAIT!" Rin screeched as she leaped up and darted into a run back towards the palace. Rin ran through the bushes and trees that she had past before when going to the lake. Her wide grin still crested onto her face, she ran with her eyes closed feeling the essence of nature around her. Dodging the bushes and logs without opening her eyes, instead just feeling their presence was one of the practices she had done at the lake. Soon she felt a different presence, "Reached the palace already? Heh, beating my times through miracles these days," Rin thought as she smirked to her own progress.

She came to an abrupt stop as she collided with something tall and found herself flying back. Her back made contact with a tree nearby, making her breath fall short. "Eeya! Ow ow ow!" Rin screamed as she slumped forward patting her back with her right hand. Her face was faced down but she opened her eyes to raise it to see what she had hit.

"Are you so careless as to run blindly through the forest?" a cold stern voice said. Rin jumped up bowing her head down.

"I'm so sorry Sesshoumaru-sama! I didn't think that…um…well. Yes?" Rin spat out feeling heat rise to her cheeks. "Actually, I was trying to see if I COULD see without opening my eyes-"

"You failed," Sesshoumaru said coldly as he walked past by her. Rin looked down, not daring to show her eyes to that of her lord. Sesshoumaru continued walking towards the place that she just came from. Rin jerked herself up and stared at her master's dwindling figure for a couple of seconds. "Did you or did you not say that you wanted to battle with me today?" Sesshoumaru says as he stopped in his tracks. _Huh? Battle with him? Oh! _

"Coming!" With that, Rin smiled widely and took off after her master. When she arrived to his side, she turned to look up at Sesshoumaru's face. "Um… Sesshoumaru-sama? I left my katana at the palace…how would I battle with you?" Rin asked looking at the two swords that hugged Sesshoumaru's waist everyday. _How fortunate those swords are… _Sesshoumaru kept walking without replying to her, Rin felt confused and didn't want to annoy her master by asking him a second time. They kept on walking and Rin realized that they were going towards the lake again. _That's odd, I wonder if Sesshoumaru-sama knows of this lake-wait a minute. It IS a part of his land, how could he not?_ Sesshoumaru had walked quietly through the forest with Rin next to him, and they were both greeted by the lake. Rin sighed as this was her second time for the day to visit her friend of nature.

I wrote this fic awhile back but I put it on But it got deleted because that site is on the hay wire. Anyhowzers...I was planning to make this a M-rated but iono.


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